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  <div class="section" id="universal-ctags-hacking-guide">
<h1>Universal-ctags Hacking Guide<a class="headerlink" href="#universal-ctags-hacking-guide" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<table class="docutils field-list" frame="void" rules="none">
<col class="field-name" />
<col class="field-body" />
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="field-odd field"><th class="field-name">Version:</th><td class="field-body">Draft</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field-even field"><th class="field-name">Authors:</th><td class="field-body">universal-ctags developers</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field-odd field"><th class="field-name">Web Page:</th><td class="field-body"><a class="reference external" href="https://ctags.io/">https://ctags.io/</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/universal-ctags">Universal-ctags</a> was created to continue the development of Darren
Hiebert’s <a class="reference external" href="http://ctags.sourceforge.net/">Exuberant-ctags</a> after activity on that project
unfortunately stalled.</p>
<p>Reza Jelveh &lt;<a class="reference external" href="mailto:reza&#46;jelveh&#37;&#52;&#48;gmail&#46;com">reza<span>&#46;</span>jelveh<span>&#64;</span>gmail<span>&#46;</span>com</a>&gt; initially created a personal fork
on GitHub and as interest and participation grew it was decided to
move development to a dedicated GitHub organization.</p>
<p>The goal of this project is to maintain a common/unified space where
people interested in improving ctags can work together.</p>
<p>This guide is primarily intended for developers. Users should first
consult the ctags.1 man page.</p>
<p>This is a draft document. Proofreading and pull-requests are welcome!</p>
<div class="toctree-wrapper compound">
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html">Introduced changes</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#importing-changes-from-exuberant-ctags">Importing changes from Exuberant-ctags</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#parser-related-changes">Parser related changes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#new-and-extended-options">New and extended options</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#changes-to-the-tags-file-format">Changes to the tags file format</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#reference-tags">Reference tags</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#automatic-parser-selection">Automatic parser selection</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#pseudo-tags">Pseudo tags</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#parser-own-fields">Parser own fields</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#parser-own-extras">Parser own extras</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#parser-own-parameter">Parser own parameter</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#customizing-xref-output">Customizing xref output</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#incompatible-changes-in-command-line">Incompatible changes in command line</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#skipping-utf-8-bom">Skipping utf-8 BOM</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="news.html#readtags">Readtags</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="reporting.html">Request for extenting a parser (or Reporting a bug of parser)</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="reporting.html#before-reporting">Before reporting</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="reporting.html#the-content-of-report">The content of report</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="reporting.html#an-example-of-good-report">An example of good report</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="contributions.html">Contributions</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="contributions.html#general-topics">General topics</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="contributions.html#specific-to-add-new-parser-and-or-new-kind-role">Specific to add new parser and/or new kind/role</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="parsers.html">Parsers</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-cxx.html">The new C/C++ parser</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-vim.html">The Vim parser</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-xslt.html">XSLT parser</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-python.html">The new Python parser</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-html.html">The new HTML parser</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-asm.html">Asm parser</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="parser-tcl.html">The new Tcl parser</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="output-format.html">Output formats</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="output-json.html">JSON output</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="output-xref.html">Xref output</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="interactive-mode.html"><code class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">--_interactive</span></code> Mode</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="interactive-mode.html#generate-tags">generate-tags</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="interactive-mode.html#sandbox-submode">sandbox submode</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="guessing.html">Choosing a proper parser in ctags</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="running-multi-parsers.html">Running multiple parsers on an input file</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="running-multi-parsers.html#applying-a-parser-to-specified-areas-of-input-file-guest-host">Applying a parser to specified areas of input file (guest/host)</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="running-multi-parsers.html#tagging-definitions-of-higher-upper-level-language-sub-base">Tagging definitions of higher(upper) level language (sub/base)</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="building.html">Building ctags</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="autotools.html">Building with configure (*nix including GNU/Linux)</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="windows.html">Building/hacking/using on MS-Windows</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="osx.html">Building on Mac OS</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="testing.html">Testing ctags</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="units.html"><em>Units</em> test facility</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="semifuzz.html">Semi-fuzz(<em>Fuzz</em>) testing</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="noise.html"><em>Noise</em> testing</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="chop.html"><em>Chop</em> and <em>slap</em> testing</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tmain.html"><em>Tmain</em>: a facility for testing main part</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tinst.html"><em>Tinst</em> installation test</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="cspell.html"><em>Cspell</em> spell checking</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="extending.html">Extending ctags</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="optlib.html">Extending ctags with Regex parser(<em>optlib</em>)</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="internal.html">ctags Internal API</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="tips.html">Tips for hacking</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tips.html#fussy-syntax-checking">Fussy syntax checking</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tips.html#finding-performance-bottleneck">Finding performance bottleneck</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tips.html#checking-coverage">Checking coverage</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tips.html#reviewing-the-result-of-units-test">Reviewing the result of Units test</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="tips.html#running-cppcheck">Running cppcheck</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="other-projects.html">Relationship between other projects</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="other-projects.html#geany">Geany</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="other-projects.html#tracking-other-projects">Tracking other projects</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="other-projects.html#software-using-ctags">Software using ctags</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html">Proposal for extended Vi tags file format</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#from-proposal-to-standard">From proposal to standard</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#backwards-compatibility">Backwards compatibility</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#security">Security</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#goals">Goals</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#proposal">Proposal</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="format.html#universal-ctags">Universal ctags</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="developers.html">Who we are</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>


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